Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Upgrading

Taking a writing break for the last week, I spent the time primarily going through my modest baseball card collection to make a rough valuation, with the hope of selling it and purchasing a new computer. My iMac is five years old, teetering on the edge of continued viability without some serious upgrading. And although it has a handy-dandy carrying handle on the top, not really a serious option for working on the go. Despite the worth of many cards evaporating around 1994 (the baseball strike that year dropped the bottom out of the market), it looks like I might have just enough to swing a nice Mac laptop.

Which made today's announcement by Steve Jobs of the new Intel-powered MacBook Pro all the sweeter. As the specs say, four times faster than the top PowerBook G4 models, a screen that is 67% brighter, one-inch thin, and the ability to run both Apple and Win-blows applications. So. hot. Not that a new computer or screenwriting software package will make me or anyone a better writer, but before starting my next script I would rather not have to reeinvent the wheel by drafting in one format and then having to convert to a different format in the future. Now to just find someone to buy those cards . . .

Additionally, taking Warren Leonard's first challenge, I'm beginning to tell people I am a screenwriter. Well, at least that I'm going to move to Los Angeles to become a screenwriter. Luckily, everyone I've told has been incredibly encouraging and not at all down on the dream. The judge I clerked for after law school, who ostensibly has no connection to the film industry whatsoever, went so far as to offer to arrange lunch with a friend who "has invested in motion pictures" and "might have some contacts in the industry." The name he mentioned sounded familiar and a quick Google search later revealed, if they are the same person, the judge's friend to be a former part-owner of a major sports franchise. So put yourself out there, whether you really think of yourself as an actual screenwriter or not. You never know what might come back.